


Memory Box

by Teaj



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28087251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teaj/pseuds/Teaj
Summary: The LU boys end up at Wild's house during their travels and stumble upon an unexpected treasure. A box full of trinkets Wild collected over the years.
Comments: 80
Kudos: 308





	1. Finding the Box

Wild was perched in a tree, keeping an attentive eye on the forest. He had last watch, and the sun was starting to come up. They had been in his Hyrule for a few days now and were only a few hours from Hateno, so he was eager to move out. Eventually, the others began to stir—Time woke first, unsurprisingly, and nodded to him as he moved over to keep watch for him. Wild jumped down at the movement and began preparing breakfast for the group. The smells woke most of them, but by the time he was finally done cooking Legend still had to go over and shake Sky awake.

It wasn’t long after that the group was on the move. As they got closer to Hateno, Wild had to stop himself from sprinting ahead; even if he didn’t spend that much time here, it was home, and it always felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders when he walked into the village. The group climbed the final hill and was greeted by Thadd, who looked warily at the group but didn’t say anything. Wild was eager to get to his house so he didn’t stop to chat with anyone, just waved as the group passed a couple of the kids who began following from a distance.

It was a peaceful day— no one seemed openly distressed, the breeze gentle and cool. Wild had to admit he had been worried, but everything seemed normal. He led the group to his house, jogging across the bridge and entering a minute before anyone else in case Flora was there. Thankfully, she wasn’t, and though that was a bit disappointing Wild wasn’t surprised. She spent nearly as much time away as he did. Wild’s eyes passed over the weapons of the past champions, and he greeted them under his breath just before Wind came running into the house after him.

“Your house is really cool!” the boy said, “it’s like it’s on an island away from the rest of the village.”

Wild smiled as he headed up the stairs to the desk where he and Flora left each other letters when they missed each other. “Glad you like it. Feel free to poke around, there’s not too much here, just stay out of the top floor.” Unlike his pack, he didn’t really care if they looked as he didn’t keep anything personal on the first floor—he hadn’t even done most of the decorating.

The group had all entered the house by the time he said that and were looking around the small space. Warriors was examining the Champions’ weapons, seemingly impressed. “These are exquisite, why don’t you use them?”

“I don’t want them to break, they’re special.” Talking about the other champions was painful, so he didn’t elaborate and was grateful when Warriors didn’t ask anything more.

Wild turned to his desk and sat. There was a small bundle of letters for him, undoubtedly left there by Flora. There were a few letters from her, of course, but also from the people Wild had met during his journey. They didn’t have a proper postal service yet, so they all kept in touch by him and Zelda exchanging letters when they could. It sometimes meant that they ended up seeing the others even before reading the letters, so usually the letters didn’t say anything important, but it was enjoyable to read them. Nothing could ruin his mood while he read these, that was certain.

\-----

Wind and Four were taking the ‘feel free to poke around’ offer to heart. While everyone else was settling in and discussing plans for while they had a house to work in, the smallest and the youngest heroes were looking for hidden treasures. Poking around the interior of the house didn’t take them more than half an hour—they hadn’t found anything before Legend had finally gotten annoyed with them checking every floorboard to see if there was a secret stash hidden away, so now they were outside.

“Stupid Legend,” Wind complained, walking up the short staircase outside the front door, “you gotta know Wild wouldn’t say that if there wasn’t something to find. Let’s keep looking out here!”

Four chuckled, pretty sure there wasn’t actually anything to find. They humored Wind anyway, saying, “I’ll look around the trees. Maybe there’s a buried treasure chest or something”

“Good idea!” Wind called over. “Oh! He has a shed, I’m gonna look in here!”

Wind went to pull open the door and it didn’t budge. “Okaaaaay… is it locked?” Wind examined the door, not wanting to break it in case it was locked and not just jammed. Not seeing any kind of key hole, Wind shrugged and yanked on the door harder. It took more strength than expected, and when the door finally flew open the young hero lost his balance and fell on his butt with a yelp.

Four jogged over to see the commotion, helping Wind up before they both looked into the shed. It was a typical storage shed, tools lined the right wall, while the left had neatly stacked and labeled boxes. The only odd thing was the dust. Every surface in the shed was caked with what looked to be decades’ worth of dust and cobwebs. Wind sneezed as he stepped into the small space and looked around. “I didn’t expect Wild to be so…” He trailed off and just gestured at the mess. The inside of the house had been so nice!

“Maybe it’s from the previous owners and he just never thought to clean it out?” Four suggested, as Wind began to wipe dirt off the boxes, making a cloud of dust.

“Winter clothes?” Wind read off the first big box, “baby clothes, toys.” He kept reading off labels until he came to a small box on the bottom shelf and wiped it off. “Link’s stuff: hands off.” He gave Four a confused look, but cracked a smile nonetheless. This had to be good.

“Wait—” Four started but it was too late; Wind yanked off the lid to look inside. Picking up the first thing in the box, the young boy gasped and ran past Four back towards the house. “Oh no,” Four muttered, closing the box and following after Wind.

\------

Inside, the others were discussing plans for the rest of the day. Wild had stashed his letters after skimming the first one from Flora for any important news, intending to read the rest later when he had a few moments to himself. “I should head up to the research lab today, let Purah know what’s going on. She’ll most likely want to meet all of you, too.”

At that moment, Wind came running in the door with a piece of paper in his hands. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a little sister too!?” he asked excitedly.

The entire room looked over at Wind in surprise and shock before turning to Wild. Time and Twilight looked concerned, while everyone else just seemed confused.

“I-I don’t—”

Four ran in just behind Wind, stopping just behind the younger hero and only barely avoiding running into him, the dusty box in their hands catching a few even more confused looks.

Wind’s face of excitement slowly fell to one of horror and guilt as he looked at Wild’s confused face. In his excitement of one of his ‘brothers’ also being a big brother like him, he had completely forgotten about Wild’s memory (or lack thereof). He didn’t really know how much Wild had forgotten, he’d always assumed it was just bits and pieces like the battle and maybe some other random things. He had never asked; Wild had never said. 

But Wild’s face told him now. Wild had never told them he had had a sister because he didn’t know.

Wind swallowed hard. “I… um… h-here.” Wind handed the small portrait to Wild.

Twilight stood and went over to his protégé, placing a hand on Wild’s shoulder while the photo was examined.

“We… I was poking around that shed outside and found a box with this in it,” Wind explained, the silence around him deafening. Wild seemed to look at the portrait for an eternity.

The image was faded and had no colour, but it was unmistakably Wild in the portrait. He was wearing the champion tunic and smiling happily. Wild… didn’t remember a time before waking up where he had had such a carefree, happy smile. Had he smiled like that since waking up? Now he wasn’t sure. And these other people… There was a large, bearded man with an apron and a bandana. He was a good head taller than Wild. This…. couldn’t be his father, could it? But if it wasn’t, why would he be in a portrait with him? Then there was the girl. She was small-she couldn’t be more than 10 years old-in a simple dress, holding a cucoo and smiling like she was the happiest person in the world.

Wild felt his chest tighten as he looked at the photo, his throat was closing and tears were beginning to well up in his eyes. If these people were his family… why couldn’t he remember them? Surely this had to be enough for  _ something _ . He was barely aware of the others in the room anymore, until Twilight spoke up, “It’s ok, pup, just take deep breaths.”

Twilight had seen memories take hold of Wild, by the river that day they all had. This wasn’t that. This was a  _ lack _ of memory. Twilight caught Time’s eye and jerked his head towards the door. If Wild wanted everyone here he could call them back in when he was good and ready.

Time nodded and turned to usure the group out, but no one needed any more prompting to rush out. Wind looked concerned, and clearly wanted to stay, but he went outside to sit by the cook pot with the others.

Twilight turned back to Wild and, taking a deep breath, asked the question he knew felt he had to, while already knowing the answer. “Do you remember anything?” Wild just shook his head, and the tears began to flow.


	2. Chapter 2

Four stood awkwardly holding the dusty box while Time started the fire. It wasn’t cold out, but it was a clear signal that no one was going anywhere just yet. The group sat and stood in silence for a few minutes before Wind broke the silence. “I should go apologize, I wasn’t thinking, I-”

Warriors put a hand on the young hero’s shoulder, “He would have found that box eventually. At least he’s not alone, let Twi take care of him for now.” Wind nodded sadly, staring at the door to the house.

Four finally sat, holding the box tightly as though it might try to run away on its own. Everyone but Time and Wind, who were looking at the house, were trying to hide that they were staring at the box.

“So… what is that?” Sky finally asked the question on everyone’s mind.

Four brushed off some more of the dust and showed them all the faded label. “I think it’s a keepsake box. I have something similar back home, to store souvenirs and stuff it.”

Wind finally tore his gaze away from the house and nodded in agreement, “I have a box I keep letters from my sister and grandma in, on Tetra’s ship.” A few of the other heroes nodded in agreement, it was a fairly common thing to do in any time period, it seemed.

The silence returned, but it was less tense now. Wind still felt guilty, but at least they weren’t all staring at the box Four held now. After a few minutes, Four relaxed his grip on the box and began to carefully wipe the dust off. After what felt like an eternity Twilight opened the door and waved them to come back in.

Wild was still sitting at the table, he had obviously been crying but the tears were wiped away now. The portrait was on the table in front of him and he now had a cup of tea. “Sorry guys,” He said as they entered, at least four mouths opened to tell him not to apologized but he kept going, “I just wasn’t expecting that. I haven’t done a lot of work around the house so I’d never bothered to unjam the shed door…” He noticed they were all crowded at the entrance to the house, it was kind of funny and he chuckled. “You can come sit down. Look if you want.”

The group all crowded around the table with that, except Wind who stayed back. Wild made a mental note to talk to him later, but not in front of everybody. Four approached Wild with the box in hand, but didn’t say anything yet as Sky picked up the picture, handling it as though it were made out of snow and could melt away. The heroes all passed the image around looked at it.

“Dang, your hair was short,” Legend said, breaking the silence that had been building. The group laughed at that; Wild included.

“She’s really cute,” Hyrule said, as he passed the picture along

Warriors chuckled, “Actually, she kinda looks like Four in a dress” This got another round of chuckles, and a glare from Four, who didn’t see the resemblance at all, well, maybe a bit... But the comment finally prompted Four to speak up.

“It was in this box,” Four said, handing the box to Wild, who took gently set it on the table. “You must have lived in this house before, or known the person that did, at least.”

Wild nodded, that made sense. He had felt drawn to the house when Bolson was going to knock it down. He hadn’t needed a place to call his own at that point, but he just couldn’t let this old house get knocked down.

Wild took the box gently and set it on his lap. His fingers wrapped around the lid and he tensed, thinking of the few memories he had. Then shook his head. His hand dropped to the side of the box. “We have more important things to do,” he said. He had spent so long looking for his memories before rescuing Flora. How had that helped anything? They didn’t make him a better fighter, or change his determination. The search had just wasted time, time he couldn’t have known he had. At least then he could see his goal, now…

“That’s bullshit,” Legend said, “It’s not like we have a time limit. We can help you while we’re figuring things out.”

Wild started to protest “Legend, more people could get hurt-”

“Sometimes it’s better to take things slow,” Legend said, “So you don’t regret choices you make. I’m not going to force you to look in that box, but don’t stop yourself because of our quest. The quest isn’t going anywhere.” This was met with a general chorus of agreement from everyone else.

Wild looked at the box on his lap, and said, “Okay… I’ll… think about it.” He grabbed the slate and stored the box inside, making it vanish from sight. His heart felt like a cold hand wrapped around it as the box disappeared, but he pushed that aside. “We… were planning.” He glanced over at Wind and nodded his head to join them. He definitely had to talk to the kid.

The heroes, reluctantly, returned to business. Wild told them Flora would be here in the next couple of days, so if they were here for a bit they would meet her. Other than that, Wild told them who the best people to talk to for information were and made plans for them to meet Purah up at the research lab. Besides being a useful ally, Wild knew Purah would never let him live it down if he didn’t bring them to meet her. They decided it was best the Wild go up alone, explain everything, and then the others come in, despite Wild’s insistence that it wouldn’t make a difference. But it was already the afternoon, so they decided that would happen tomorrow.

\---

For now, they spread out. Wind wanted to get the house set up so everyone could actually sleep in there, and get started on dinner, while everyone else went to collect information. Wild told them to tell everyone they were friend’s of his, as he apparently knew everybody. Wild asked Wind to stay behind and help tidy up the house.

It was only a few minutes later that Wild said, “don’t be sorry. I’m glad you found it.” Wild was pulling extra blankets out from under the stairs and handing them the Wind.

Wind looked down, “I still shouldn’t have come running in like that. I didn’t even think…”

Wild shrugged, “we’re all guilty of that at one point or another. But seriously, I’m glad _you_ found it.”

Wind looked at Wild with obvious confusion

Wild pulled out the picture and looked at it again, “Can I ask, what’s it like? Being a big brother, I mean.”

Wind could feel his heart ache like nothing else. What was it like? How could he describe… “It’s… like having a best friend, that looks up to you and is almost always fun to be around. Sometimes you fight, and can’t stand one another, but… you’d do anything to keep them safe.” He looked at Wild with sad eyes, “I couldn’t imagine my life without Aryll. She’s even the reason I went on my journey.”

Wild was quiet for a minute, before he finally said, “Want to look at some of the stuff in the box with me? Uh… after we finish our work, I mean.”

Wind cracked a huge smile, “For sure!”

The two heroes worked quickly, cleaning the house, moving the table, and setting out the few extra blankets Wild had before Wild started to make food. As dinner cooked, the two sat down near the fire and Wild drew the box out of the slate. Wild once again put his hands around the lid and took a deep breath, bracing himself for a memory…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, I ended it there just to give you a cliffhanger.


	3. Opening the Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> continuing from where we left off, Wind keeps Wild company while they look through the box.

but no memory came. He removed the lid and looked inside, with no rush of emotion or actually-being-there that he had experienced each time he recovered a memory. He was disappointed, to say the least, though part of him was relieved and that made him feel a bit guilty. Putting the lid aside Wild pulled out the first item. A piece of paper folded to look like a fairy. One of the wings had, ‘tO kep you Saf’ written on it in big shaky handwriting that was nearly unreadable.

Wind chuckled, “I bet your sister made you that. Did she sign it?” He leaned over for a better look and was clearly disappointed by the lack of a signature.

Wild smiled slightly, the little fairy made his heart feel light. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything, so he took out the next item. A letter sealed and addressed to him. He decided he’d read that later. He kept pulling out the items one at a time, each time hoping it would spark a memory and each time being disappointed.

Next was a smaller box, full of colourful rocks, and next to that was a korok seed, Wild made a surprised ‘huh’ at that. So he even played with them back then, had he been the one that had Hestu 100 years ago? It wasn’t the first time he wondered that but he couldn't bring himself to ask.

There was a necklace made of seashells beside that, a few of the shells had been broken and the pieces were loose in the box.

“Oh no,” Wind said, seeing that. He was visibly upset at the trinket being broken, but Wild just shrugged

“I don’t remember it anyway,” he tried to say it evenly, but his voice was tight.

“I can probably find some shells and fix it if you want.”

Wild considered it for a moment, then nodded, “I… think I’d like that.” He wondered if his sister had made it for him originally, or if he had made it himself. Maybe it had been from Mipha? Or someone he still did even know existed… He pushed that thought out of his mind and pulled out the next item. A jar no bigger than his little finger, full of sand and sealed with wax. A leather cord was wrapped around the top, making the little jar into a necklace. Why had he kept sand? It wasn’t exactly hard to come by, but it must have been important to him.

“Is that from the beach near here?” Wind asked.

“I think it’s from Gerudo Desert. It’s a different colour.”

“What’s from the desert?” Wild and Wind looked to the source of the voice. Legend was coming back over a bridge with Hyrule just behind him, “Oh, you’re looking through the box. Mind if we join you?”

Wild shook his head and the other two sat next to the fire with them. Wild checked on dinner quickly while Wind showed them the few items pulled out so far.

“The bottle could have been a gift from someone that lived in the desert,” Hyrule suggested, “Do you know if you had any friends there?”

“Urbosa was the chief of the Gerudo. Maybe her?” Wild answered, “I don’t think I knew her before I was named champion but it seems she was a kind woman.” Wild glanced back in the box and then noticed it. A vai veil, similar to the one he had now for sneaking into Gerudo town, but faded with age. Wild quietly moved it under the other items, not wanting a repeat of when the others had found his current veil. “I could see her giving me something like that.” He pulled out a similar bottle to change the subject.

This bottle was nearly empty, with only a couple drops of water rolling along the sides, there was a small charm tied around the wax seal that looked like the Zora sapphire. Wild was sure this had been a gift from one of his Zora friends, probably Mipha, although he couldn’t be certain of course. He sighed deeply as he set it beside the box with the rest. What was he even doing? None of these items were bringing back a memory. Well, at least the letter might give him some answers, but he wasn’t through yet.

He pulled a large feather out next. It was unmistakably a Rito feather, and Wild had a sneaking suspicion of who it had come from. There was no way it had been given to him as a gift, so his past self must have picked it up without Revali knowing. The idea made Wild chuckle as he reached for the next item.

There were a few stacks of letters. Someone, well, Wild supposed it must have been himself, had taken the time to sort the letters and bind them together with string. Three neat stacks of different sizes, and another loose, sealed letter. Wild set them aside to read later, he had the distinct impression they would not make him feel the same as the letters he got now did. No one said anything as he moved on, and no one made a move to pass the letters around as they had the rest.

Stacked neatly together were two notebooks, the last items in the box. One looked like it was stuffed full of… something. He handed the normal looking one to Hyrule without a thought, as he opened the stuffed book to a random page. Tucked neatly between the pages was a small blue wildflower. On the right page, someone had written a date and the small message “On the trail with Dad to Akkala, couldn’t leave mom’s favourite.” He closed the book again, better to look at it later, if he waited for Flora she could even tell him what most, if not all, of the flowers were. He handed that one to Wind.

Hyrule was still flipping through the book that had been handed to him, but he kept looking from the book, to Wild, to dinner, clearly wanting to say something but being a tad unsure.

“Just spit it out,” Legend said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s a cookbook,” Hyrule said, “And, uh… you’ve definitely made us recipes similar to what’s in here before.”

Wild raised an eyebrow and took the book back. Sure enough, it was a cookbook. The page Wild opened to had the recipe for Apple Pie. The recipe itself was written in neat, clear handwriting, it was easy to follow and eat even had recommendations for making multiple at a time. In small print next to it someone had neatly written “Link’s favorite” in cursive and in significantly less neat writing someone had drawn an arrow to that and written underneath, “Dad’s too!”

Wild turned to an earlier page. Hearty Clam Chowder. This time, the recipe had been recorded as he made it now, but salt was added to the ingredients list and crossed off with one smooth line. The cursive writing said, “Great for cold days, less salt next time.” Next to that someone had drawn a little heart and added, in bold, blocky letters, “I like the salt!” The messy handwriting seemed to have had the last word, though, as it added, “No salt!” Wild found himself chuckling at that.

Wild turned to the very first page, out of curiosity. The flowing writing had written “Link’s recipe book.” Someone had doodled pictures of cake, pie, fish, apples, all kinds of food, drawn at varying levels of recognizability. He flipped through the book more and it seemed every recipe had the same, neat handwriting with a few notes from all participants, as he moved through the book the messy handwriting began to get neater, developing into a style of its own. It flowed together nicer than the blocky text, but not to the degree the cursive was, although for all the recipes so far it was still clearly childish, often having misspelled words and awkward capitalization.

One recipe had been written down in this childish text and the big blocky letters just said NO underlined three times. The cursive writing was less direct, “An interesting experiment, but too many flavours. Try to pair down next time. Simple is best!” the third just said, “I thought it was funny so I’m keeping it!” The cursive came back after that and said, “experiments are good but I’m helping next time.”

Wild read through the recipe with a big grin and a laugh. No wonder they hadn’t liked it. The recipe called for an armored carp, a sunshroom, endura carrots, and a hearty durian. Those by themselves would give you dubious food at best with how the different flavour profiles clashed, but to top it off it seemed he had also added a hightail lizard to the mix! Very few people would be able to stomach that, let alone enjoy it. But Wild could just imagine a young boy, making a surprise dinner for his parents, just throwing in whatever he could into the pot and hoping for the best. He was willing to bet the faces were funny, when they ate. The large man’s face scrunching up in disgust and the woman… Wild’s face began to fall, what had she looked like? Why wasn’t she in the portrait?

“What’s funny?” Wind asked, peaking over Wild’s shoulder and breaking him out of that train of thought. He chuckled when he read it, too, and when Wild didn’t comment the young boy stayed put to keep reading along.

Wild glanced up from the book to see that Time and Twilight were coming back across the bridge, but he just kept flipping through as Hyrule explained what was going on and showed them the items taken out so far. The recipes were simple, a few failed experiments were mixed in, and the comments were always encouraging even when they declared a recipe a failure. Wild didn’t notice at first when the writing for the recipes themselves changed, he wasn’t reading every single page so it was easy to miss. Once he noticed the change, he flipped back a few pages to when the transition happened. Honey candy. The writing was shakier than it had been before, there were two notes written next to it. “Was Mom’s favourite to make. Share with the little fairy when old enough. Won’t be as good, though.” This note was shaky, and there was a spot next to it the looked like dried water. The second note was at the bottom of the page, in small, neat letters it seemed he had come back later to add, “She loved it.”

Wild paused on that page for a minute, not wanting to consider the implications of it. Wind squeezed Wild's shoulder slightly, keeping Wild grounded as he turned the page. There were a dozen recipes or so where there were no notes, or only a couple words from the bold writing and a short reply from the childish writing. There were fewer experiments, too, it seemed. Until a new font joined. Shaky, poorly capitalized, and hard to read. The pages were filled more again, often having more (nearly unrecognizable) drawings on them along with more notes. Flipping through every so often a recipe would say it was from a specific region or even from a certain person. The small pictures and new writing slowly got a little better.

On the recipe for honey crepes the messy writing had doodled a picture of one and wrote, "Yum yum yum! mY faVOrate. Make it mOr!" The blocky writing had added, "you can't deny a fairy their sugar." And the main writing had responded, "Every time I come home, just for you." Wild smiled at the idea. At this point he must have at least been in training and saw his family much less. Cooking must have been how he kept connected with his little sister. Wild kept flipping through and one recipe made Wild pause.

Daruk’s Rock Roast. The recipe described in detail where to find the best rocks and how to cook them to be edible. The messy writing had commented, “Only you would eat a rock.” While the main writing replied, “It was good! And it would have been rude to refuse!” The bold writing added, “There’s a difference between politeness and foolishness” Wild was... honestly tempted to try this.

There were only a few recipes after that point. The last one was a recipe for fruit cake Wild recognized as Flora’s favorite. The notes simply said, “To make when we get back.” in the main print and “I miss you.” In the messy print.

The rest of the book was empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The oragami fairy looks like this https://thesassyjack.tumblr.com/post/43353969832/hey-listen-origami-navi-from-legend-of-zelda (not my tumblr)


	4. Theories and Speculations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys theorize about the items in the box, and Wild has a nightmare.
> 
> slight TW for descriptions of a mild post-nightmare panic attack.

Wild didn’t have time to look through the rest of the items in detail just then, as dinner was nearly done. Warriors finally showed up as food began being passed around. He had a slight red mark on his cheek that everyone pointedly did not comment on. As the group ate, they discussed what the others had learned from the townsfolk. It seemed monsters no one recognized had appeared on Hateno Beach, so they planned to go check out the nest tomorrow. That was the only remarkable monster sighting from the area, though Twilight did comment on how unfortunate it was that so many of the townsfolk said people weren’t being attacked on the road “More than usual.” It seemed such a common thing here that it wasn’t even of note, which Wild shrugged at because it, in fact, was.

Plans for the next day set, the group relaxed more and began just chatting. Much of the conversation revolved around Wild’s box. He had given them permission to look at the loose items and read the cookbook. Until he got a chance to read the letters, he was keeping them safe in the box.

“I can’t believe you ate a rock,” Hyrule said, looking at the recipe for rock roast.

“I can,” Twilight and Legend said at the same time.

Wild blushed slightly and looked away.

Time gave the scared hero a mildly concerned look, “you want to try and make that, don’t you?” He asked

Wild waited for a beat before answering, “it’s probably pretty good.”

The entire group broke out into fits of laughter at that and began passing around the other items. They figured the empty bottle might have once had water from Zora’s domain, based on the symbol on it. Wild decided to believe it was from Mipha, it just felt right for it to be. Legend picked up the Rito feather.

“Didn’t you say that Ravioli dude didn’t like you?” Legend asked

“Revali,” Wild corrected, he may not have had the best relationship with him from what he remembered and read, but the champion still lost his life and deserved respect with the rest… even if the mispronounced name was hilarious. “And yeah, I have no idea how I’d end up with that.”

Legend passed it to Four, who said, “It looks a little ragged, maybe it fell out while he was training and you picked it up?”

“Could easily have been a sparring match,” Warriors pointed out, “The feather is a little clipped right there, see?” He pointed to the edge of the feather, where it was unnaturally straight.

Wild chuckled, imagining how Revali would react to him having one of his feathers. Probably not well. “That means I have something from everyone… except Daruk. I’m pretty sure they were friends even before they were champions so that’s a little weird.” Everyone was used to Wild referring to his past self as a separate person, so no one reacted to the word choice.

“Maybe he gave you some of these rocks?” Wind suggested, “They’re really nice.” The young hero pushed the box over to Wild to take a closer look.

Inside the box were all kinds of rocks, none of them were particularly valuable, just neat looking stones like a child would grab off the road. They could have been from anywhere in Hyrule. Except one. There was a tiny ruby amongst the stones, the gem had been polished to a point and set in a pointy silver casing.

“Looks like the Goron ruby, though that had gold rather than silver.” Time said, “I could see your Goron champion giving you that. The Gorons gave me the real ruby when they made me a sworn brother.”

Wild smiled at the thought. In Daruk’s ~~dia~~ training journal he had mentioned Wild being an official brother. Perhaps the Goron had given him this at that point. It was nice to imagine, anyway. Wild picked up the korok seed, “Should I give this to Hestu?”

The rest of the Links stared at Wild blankly, he hadn’t told them about Hestu yet.

“Uh… He’s a giant Korok. The rest of the Koroks took the seeds from his maracas and hid all over the place with them. I’ve been finding them for him.” Now that he looked at the seed it looked a little different from the others he had collected. There were faded flecks of colour, as though it had once been painted. Looking closely, Wild could see the hint of painted flowers around it. Had he done that? His sister? The korok that gave it to them? Had his sister been able to see the Koroks as well?

“Well… you can ask him about it, if you want,” Wind says, “maybe he’ll let you keep it since it’s been so long? I can’t imagine he misses it after all this time.”

“Do Koroks live that long? It might not be his,” Twilight added.

Wild shrugged, “I don’t know how long they live, but Hestu said I was the first Hylian to see him in 100 years.”

“Then maybe he gave it to you 100 years ago?” Four suggested, “and he just didn’t recognize you when you met again?”

The room grew quiet again, the only sound was shell hitting shell as Wind examined the broken necklace. “I’m gonna look for shells after we get rid of those monsters tomorrow.” He said.

“Speaking of, it’s getting late.” Time said, standing up. With a few grumbles, the group started to head to bed, which ironically included waking up Sky so he could move to a bedroll rather than the chair he’d nodded off in. It had been decided they didn't need a watch while in Wild's house so they would all get to sleep through the night for once.

Wild was tempted to offer Wind his bed but decided against it for two reasons. First, Wind would not appreciate being babied like that, and second, Wild _really_ wanted to sleep in his own bed. It had been a long day, and he still hadn’t even read the letters Flora had left on his desk. With a sigh, laid down to try and sleep. His thoughts were still in a flurry after everything, and it took a while, but eventually, he slept.

_Link was walking with his sister in an endless field of flowers. They spun around and danced, and Link knew they were both laughing, but he couldn’t hear her voice, only his own. They collapsed in a fit of giggles, hers just a feeling in his mind rather than a sound._

_They were making flower crowns for one another now. Link placed his crown of pink and blue flowers on the girl’s head and she said something he couldn’t hear while she held out hers. He felt himself smile and nod in response, accepting the flowers._ Promise me you’ll always come home _he felt her saying wordlessly. “Nothing could keep me away, not even the princess’ orders!” He promised, grabbing her and pulling her into a tight hug._

_She evaporated as the field of flowers turned into a swamp of death. Link was on the ground, being cradled. His ear was ringing and his sight was blurred, his chest heavy with wounds that made it difficult to breathe. He struggled to turn his head to look at Zelda… but it wasn’t Zelda, it was his sister. Crying, yelling soundlessly, asking how he could leave like this. He heard footsteps and was pulled from her arms as he tried to reach back for her everything faded away. Everything was black as he heard the healing waters of the Shrine of Resurrection rise around him, closing him away from the world._

Wild awoke with a start, bolting upright and breathing heavily as he looked around. He was home, he was safe, the others were just downstairs. It wasn’t the shrine. He was fine. He was _fine_. He just needed to calm down. He wasn't trapped, this wasn't the shrine. He was _home_. He breathed slowly, in and out. Wild managed to calm himself after just a few minutes. It didn’t seem like he had woken anyone else up, at least, they were all still laying down when he got to the bottom of the stairs, which he was glad for. It was early, and as much as having company would be good he didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s sleep.

The sun was coming up, so Wild quietly made his way out of the house to begin breakfast on the fire outside. Hyrule came out of the house and sat beside him before Wild even had the fire started. “I heard you wake up but I didn’t want to invade your space upstairs.” Hyrule explained, “do you need to talk?”

Wild smiled thankfully at Hyrule. “Nightmares. Sorry for waking you. Just… yesterday was a lot. Talking probably isn’t a bad idea.” Hyrule listened quietly as Wild described his dream. “I was with… my sister,” it was so weird to say that, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. “We were having fun. I promised to always be there… and then I,” Wild’s throat tightened and his words were strained, “I was dying, and she was holding me as everything faded away.” Tears began to pool in his eyes, “Hyrule, my father was a knight, too. What if he died during the Calamity? She would have been all alone.”

Hyrule opened his arms to offer a hug, which Wild accepted gratefully. “Don’t worry about the what-ifs yet. She wrote that note in your cookbook, right? So, you know she survived. No one would let the kid sister of the hero grow up alone, even if the worst happened. Try and focus on that for now.”

Wild let himself cry for a good while until he felt better. “Thanks, Hyrule.” He said, breaking from the hug and wiping his face, “that helps.” Wild started to make breakfast after that. He had a feeling it was going to be another long day.


	5. To the Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys take care of the monsters on the beach, then head up to the lab.
> 
> potential TW: There is a description of a fight scene, but nothing graphic

Once everyone had eaten, the group headed out. Despite it being early, several other people were out already. Many tried to stop Wild for a chat, but he politely told them they were going to go take care of the monsters on the beach and he would talk later. Eventually, they made it up the hill and to the fork in the road, where they headed towards the beach. The group became silent as they reached the end of the winding path, not wanting to alert the monsters to their presence just yet. Wild quietly led them through some boulders to where they had a vantage point of the monsters.

Six technoblins were wandering around the beach, keeping a watchful eye out for anyone foolish enough to come close. Sky informed the group he had fought these enemies before and explained how they would block any obvious attacks with their electrified batons. The group would have to be careful.

Wild examined the area they technoblins were wandering around and asked, “are they immune to electricity?”

“I don’t think so, but I never used electric weapons to fight.” Sky answered.

Wild nodded, “I think I can stun them. See how the area they’re wondering about is wet? If I fire a volley of shock arrows I should be able to get all of them.”

“Not a bad plan,” Warriors said with a nod, “Then we can all run in to finish them off.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and silently moved to better positions. Once they were in place Wild let loose three shock arrows from his bow, which landed in the water at the technoblins feet. The electricity from the arrows arced out through the water, stunning the enemies. The other 8 heroes dashed out from behind the rocks and acted simultaneously.

Wind and Four went for one, Four slashed the enemy’s hand to make it release its baton, grabbing it with his offhand before it could hit the water. Wind came up right behind him and stabbed their foe through the heart.

Time took one by the outside of the group, swinging the biggoron sword in a wide arc and knocking the enemy through the air, a blow that would normally finish it off if not for the black blood. Now knocked out of its shock, it gripped its baton and jumped at Time, only to be met with multiple arrows to the head. Time barely registered them hitting before the enemy was knocked out of the air. He nodded at Wild and turned to see if the others needed help.

Warriors rushed forward to his opponent and delivered three swift, powerful blows to the creature’s chest. It just managed to snap out of its stun and make an attempt to block when Warriors feigned an attack to the from above before switching his stance and lopping its head clean off from the side.

Hyrule ran into the middle of the fray with Legend on his heels. The pair made quick work of one monster as Hyrule slashed its side while moving to flank it from behind. Even as it recovered from the stun, the two slashed it from both sides too fast for it to get a chance to try and block them before it went down.

Twilight went for the furthest one, the extra seconds being enough for it to regain its composure. Twilight raised his sword as though to strike and the technoblin swiftly moved to block him, but instead of swinging his sword Twilight used his shield to bash the enemy’s face in. As it was staggered Twilight launched himself into the air over its head, slicing its head and knocking off its helmet as he landed, only to turn around and dealing multiple blows and felling the monster.

Sky, being the most experienced with these foes, knew not to underestimate them. While his chosen target was still stunned, he swept its legs out from under it. He ignored the inactive electric baton and went directly for a fatal blow, using his full weight to drive the Master Sword directly into the monster’s heart.

The battle lasted only a few seconds, and each hero was scanning the area for any additional threats. After a minute passed and none of them saw any sign of reinforcements they relaxed and came back together.

“I should introduce at least some of you to Purah,” Wild said, “She’s a Sheikah researcher and might be able to help us figure out what we were brought together for.”

Time nodded in agreement, “having allies can only help. Although I don’t imagine all of us need to meet her at once so if anyone had something else they wanted to do...”

“I’m gonna stay around here, look for shells to fix that necklace.” Wind said.

“I’ll stay with him to help,” Four offered, not wanting any of them to be alone.

“I’ll stick around with them, too.” Hyrule declared, far more comfortable away from the town than he was in it.

With that decided, the rest of the heroes started the long walk back up the hill. Legend in particular seemed rather eager to get away from the beach. “When we get up to the research lab, just wait outside while I tell Purah what’s going on. I don’t know if she’s gotten any of my letters yet.

Twilight nodded, “Having extra heroes show up and barge into your house would be a pretty big shock for anyone so that’s reasonable.”

Wild muttered to himself, “Yeah that’s not what I’m worried about.”

The others all exchanged confused glances at that comment but chose not to ask. The group reached the top of the tall hill and Wild had them wait just outside as he ran in. Legend was admiring the blue flamed furnace as the rest pondered what this researcher would be like. They all knew Sheikah, but none knew any that referred to themselves as researchers. Twi told them the only researcher he knew was a Hylian named Shad.

\---

Inside, Wild smiled at Purah as she enthusiastically greeted him, “Link! It’s good to see you again. Zelda passed on your message about your new adventure. So, did you bring your new companions for me to stu- meet?”

Wild chuckled slightly, “They’re just outside. Just do me a favour and _don’t_ ask to see all their items right off the bat?”

Purah gave an exaggerated sigh, “Fiiiiine. Definitely going to rub meeting them first in Robbie’s old face. And you _have_ to SNAP a picture of me with them!” She looked Wild up and down, “But asking me to behave isn’t why you came in ahead of them. You know me better than that.”

Wild smiled, he did. For as much as they teased and joked, he knew Purah wouldn’t do anything too crazy on the first meeting. Except maybe confuse them with her age, but that was their problem. “Observant as always,” He said, “I wanted to ask you something before we got caught up with everything else… How well did you know me before the Calamity?”

“Hmm… not that well. You were just kinda there, didn’t talk much, and I was focused on my research,” Purah answered, “Why? What happened? You remember something”

Wild sighed and shook his head, so Purah wasn’t going to be much help. “We found a box full of trinkets and letters… it was mine before… everything. There was a portrait of me and my family.” He summoned the picture from the Slate and showed it to her, Symin came over to look as well, and Wild gladly let him look. “I was hoping you might have known the name of the girl... My sister”

Purah shook her head sadly, “I didn’t even know you had a sister, Link, I’m sorry. But you and Zelda were closer, and she should be back in town tonight or tomorrow! She certainly knows.”

Wild smiled and put the picture away. “Thanks, Purah. I’ll grab the guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the first fight I've ever written. It's not much, but it still took like three days cause I didn't know what I was doing XD We'll get back to more box contents next chapter!


	6. Meetings and letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of the boys meet Purah, and Wild finally reads a letter.

“Come on in, guys,” Wild said, holding the door open as the other 5 heroes entered the messy lab. The others looked around, taking in everything, while Wild walked around them and joined Purah and Symin at the table.

Legend looked at the three and raised an eyebrow, “Who’s the kid? And where’s the Purah lady you were talking about?”

Wild glanced at Purah, he knew how she was with introductions so he kept quiet.

“Check it!” Purah said, striking a pose, “I’m Purah, director of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab! Snapity snap!” She stuck a few more poses while Legend just blinked, Wars and Twilight exchanged a look of disbelief and Time just chuckled.

Legend looked at Wild, then back to the kid, then back to Wild, “If you wanted to set up this prank you should have come here earlier instead of having us all wait outside.”

Wild stifled a laugh while Purah gave him an indignant look. “She’s telling the truth,” Wild said.

“No way. You said Purah might know something about your past, this kid is like 8.”

Wild and Purah exchanged a look, then smiled at one another. “Well you caught us I guess,” Purah said, “ _clearly_ I’m too young to be the director. Symin is the director.” Symin slowly brought his hand up to cover his face and sighed.

“Yep, it was a good try, but oh well,” Wild said, barely holding back a laugh.

Time shook his head, “Ok, that’s enough. Legend, her being the director of this lab and having known Wild 100 years ago wouldn’t even be the strangest thing we’ve seen this week.”

Twilight nodded, “The old man’s not wrong. It's a pleasure to meet you, Purah, Symin.” He nodded to them in turn

Wild sighed, “Oh come on, that could have been fun.”

Purah shrugged, “Well down to business then I suppose.”

Legend leveled a look at them, “You have got to be messing with me.”

Warriors clapped him on the shoulder, “Just accept it. Even if they are, they’re not gonna let up.”

\---

The group ended up spending most of the day at the lab, Purah throwing around theories about their adventure, asking them questions and eventually asking to see their more unique items. She was fascinated with Twilight’s spinner and had to be told multiple times that she could not take it apart to see how it worked. Eventually, the group had to leave and return to Wild’s home.

The others had returned before them and Wind was carefully examining a massive amount of shells by the pond, comparing them to the broken shell fragments on the necklace. Wild put dinner over the fire and pulled out the box once again. Twilight came and sat beside him and watched as he pulled out all the letters.

“I’m not sure where to start?” Wild said, looking at the three stacks and two loose letters.

“Which one did you take out first? That’s as good a place as any.”

Wild picked up the letter that had been sealed and addressed to him. It felt… odd. It was his name on the letter, but it felt like he was opening someone else’s mail. With a deep breath, he broke the seal, took out the letter, and began to read.

_Hey Big Bro, did you sleep well?_

_It’s been a few years since the Calamity, a lot has happened. Some sheikah told us you got hurt and are sleeping to heal. I have so much to tell you about since then, but it doesn’t feel right to write it down here. I’ll find you when you wake up and tell you in person, promise!_

_I’m an adult now, so I thought I’d put those sword skills you and dad taught me to use. I’m travelling, taking out monster camps and protecting traders as they travel. Don’t worry, I’m safe, the monsters aren't too bad with the Princess holding back the beast's power. Plus, you taught me well and I know when I can’t handle a fight._

_One of my jobs brought me back to Hateno and I was looking at the old house here and remembered this old box, so I organized it for you and wrote this letter to let you know that I’m fine. The adults here promised the house will be untouched while it waits for you to come back. Everyone has other things to worry about than an old house, anyway._

_I miss you a lot, big bro. Please wake up soon, I don’t want you to be gone like so many people say… They say 20 years is too long to wait, but I believe in you. I know you’ll come back, and until then I’ll keep everyone safe in your place._

_Love, your annoying little fairy girl_

Wild’s eyes grew wider and wider with every line he read, then he reread it, then again. He couldn’t think straight, couldn’t say anything. A lot had happened? What did that mean? And why hadn't she been living in Hateno? Wasn't this their home? Where had their father ended up? He handed to letter to Twilight, more to get it out of his hands than to share, and just blinked a few times. He wasn’t crying, he didn’t even feel sad or upset at that moment. He was just shocked, too shocked and confused for other emotions. 20 years after he was put in the shrine, she had written this.

“She thought I was going to wake up soon,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. He buried his face in his hands. “If I had just woken up sooner… if I hadn’t fallen in battle…” He could remember it so well. The piles of deactivated guardians, the sting of every wound, the sound of metal hitting metal as the guardian climbed to the top of the pile-

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Twilight said, placing a hand on Wild’s shoulder, “and you can’t change the past.”

Wild was glad to be shaken out of his thoughts and took a deep breath. “Thanks. I-I know.” He took a few more breaths, then went over to the fire to tend dinner. He didn’t need to, but it helped clear his thoughts. “She survived.” His voice cracked as he said it, he dropped his ladle and began to weep. So many people had fallen to the Calamity. The message in the recipe book had given him hope that he didn’t dare cling to until now. She had survived, and while he didn’t dare hope she was still out there somewhere, that was something. Her life wasn’t cut short like so many others.

\---

It took Wild a while to calm back down after that. Twilight stayed next to him the whole time he cried, not asking or saying anything. At some point, Hyrule came and sat with them as well and Wild let him read the letter.

When Wild was finally calm again, the food was ready and the whole group ate together as usual. The letter was not passed around, but the news that Wild’s sister had survived was shared. Everyone was glad to hear it, though it seemed a number of them were thinking of the implications of the 100-year gap. Despite the relatively good news, the atmosphere around the group was heavy.

“Oh!” Wind said, eager to bring the mood up, “I fixed the necklace! It was similar to one Aryll gave me when we were younger, so I bet she made it for you” Wind jumped up and went to hand the necklace to Wind, who raised a hand to accept it. “When you wear it, it’ll be like a part of her is with you all the time.”

As Wind placed the necklace in Wild’s hand, Wild froze for a moment. His face went blank and then his hand slowly dropped to his lap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a short chapter, but that was the best place to end it. Already working on the next one so it won't be too long!


	7. Memories and Reminiscence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild remembers something, and it leads to a lot of reminiscing from the others

“Link! You’re home!” the young blond girl called as Link crossed the bridge leading to their home. His sister ran at him, and he stretched out his arms as she jumped up for a hug. “I missed you! Guess what!?”

Link chuckled, “You finally met the fairies of the forest and they made you their queen?” His voice sounded tired but full of joy. He was wearing regular clothes rather than his champion tunic, and there was no Master Sword strapped to his back. He looked to be about 15. His sister looked to be 5 or 6.

“No, silly!” the girl said, grabbing onto Link’s neck and making him carry her as he took the last few steps towards home. “I lost a tooth! See?” She smiled widely, and, sure enough, there was a gap.

“Oh wow! Did the picori take it and leave you some rupees?”

“Mmm hmm! I got 20! Daddy said I can spend it on whatever I wanted, guess what I got!”

“20 whole rupees! You’re rich! You could almost buy an island with that!”

“Stop being silly! Guess for real!”

Link laughed as he entered the house. Their father was standing at the table, smiling fondly with his hands on his hips as he waited for the pair to finish their conversation. Link smiled and nodded at the large man. “Okay, okay. Did you buy candy?”

“Nope!”

“A toy sword?”

“I still have the one you gave me last time!”

“I thought you might have broken it! Okay, last guess. You bought… a puppy.”

“That’s another silly guess! Silly hero boy!” The girl stuck her tongue out and jumped out of Link’s grasp. “I bought string!” The girl ran up the stairs as she yelled.

Link looked over to his father and raised an eyebrow.  _ String? _ His father just nodded his head and said, “It was all her idea. She’s been really excited for you to get some time off your training.”

“Speaking of that, I need to talk to you about the forest, dad.”

The man’s smile fell. “Later, Link. I know. I’ll take you to the outskirts during this break, but let your sister have a few days without you worrying about that sword.”

Link bit his lower lip and nodded. His sister was running back down the stairs now, so he consciously relaxed again and smiled at her. She was holding something, hidden in her clapped hands, her face brimming with pure glee.

“I made you this!” She said, holding out both her hands. Link held out his own, and she placed a seashell necklace in them. “When you wear it, it’ll be like I’m there with you! Like the Navi fairy you told me about!”

“I love it,” Link said, putting the necklace on, “come on little Navi, I’ll tell you about the heroes again.”

“I wanna hear the one the tree told you again!” the young girl demanded as the memory faded.

\---

Wild sighed as he came out of the memory, shaking his head a little and looking around to get his bearings. He was sitting on the floor of his kitchen. Twilight was meditating beside him, with a patience Wild had come to expect in these moments. In front of him, Wind was hugging his knees and strumming his fingers, clearly not wanting to leave but not nearly as patient. Everyone else was scattered around the room, either chatting about nothing in particular or doing their own thing, like Sky, who was carving. 

“Are you alright?” Wind asked, releasing his legs as Wild began to move again.

Wild nodded, smiling slightly to himself. “Yes. You were right, my sister did give me that necklace.” He put the necklace on, the cool shells pressing against his collarbone and reaffirming they were real. “She gave it to me so it would be like she was always with me. Seems like I told her stories about past heroes, and might have mentioned something about companions. She said she wanted to be like a fairy named Navi.”

Time froze, going stiff and locking his good eye onto Wild. His brow creased in deep thought, eyes seeming to be looking for something out of instinct. Everyone noticed, and a hush fell over the room as Wild stiffened under the stern look.  _ Had he said something wrong? _ He wasn’t sure what to say and just waited until Time shook his head. “Sorry, I knew someone by that name once and was caught off guard at hearing it. I’d be curious to find out how you came across it, but that’s not important right now.”

Everyone relaxed, and Wild told them exactly what he had remembered. Unlike so many others, it was a pleasant memory. It felt nice to share how happy his family had been. When he mentioned a tree telling stories, undoubtedly the Great Deku Tree, Time nodded as though something clicked for him, though he didn’t share what it might have been.

“Reminds me of Aryll,” Wind said when Wild finished. No one was really surprised by that, it seemed nearly anything could remind Wind of his sister and the adventures they’d been on. “We used to make seashell necklaces all the time. I taught her how to do it for Grandma’s birthday once. She was only 3, though, and didn’t get that you had to make sure the shells were  _ empty _ before you used them. She picked up a crab when we were searching, handed it to me, and it snapped at  _ me _ . Of course, she laughed about it for the rest of the day while I ended up with a swollen thumb! I swear she did it on purpose.”

Twilight snorted, “You think that’s bad? When Ilia and I were younger, I figured out how to call this hawk using grass, right? Well, Ilia couldn’t get the grass to work no matter how much I tried to help. She figured I must be cheating somehow, or lying, so she decided she needed to prank me. She went through and put chili powder on  _ all of the grass _ . It was not fun when I figured that out” He waited while everyone laughed at the mental image. “Joke was on her, though. It rained that day and washed away all the powder.”

Everyone laughed at that for a few more minutes, then Warriors glanced at Time before looking back at the group. “I got a story of a prankster. While I was at war, there was this one kid that had a ridiculous number of masks on him and insisted on helping us fight. Obviously, that’d be a big no go in normal circumstances, but the kid proved himself more than once and it wasn’t exactly normal circumstances. Anyway, a lot of the kids in the kingdom would make little trinkets and stuff for us when we passed their area. In this one town we passed through, a bunch of the kids saw this mask kid and the both of us got roped into making paper masks with them. It was fun, until the little twerp gave me a mask he had made for me. I put it on and the inside was just all glitter.”

Time smirked and chuckled, seeming to recall a fond memory of his own at the story. “Sparkles for days… I’m sure you were fine. You don’t know pranks until you spend some time with eternal children. Let me tell you, when people don’t age, they have lots of time to think up pranks. I had this friend, Saria. We pranked each other all the time. One time I woke up and she had dyed my hair blue, another time she hid all my shoes all over the village, but this one time she roped the whole village into a prank. She had everyone in the village hide, but have their guardian fairies stay out as though they were going about business as usual. They all threw their voices and had me absolutely convinced the entire village had turned invisible for a week. After the week was over they all pretended it hadn’t happened and said I must have been dreaming, but I got them to admit it eventually, and got back at her.”

Wild leaned in, eyes wide with anticipation. “How?”

Time looked smug. “ _ That _ is a secret between her and I.”

“Oh come on, you can’t do that!”

“I just did. I’m sure someone else has a story to tell.”

The group laughed as Wild glared playfully at Time. “Should I tell the story about when I dumped a bottle of Goron spice in dinner cause my brothers were being jerks?” The laughter got a bit more nervous as everyone remembered that incident, but no one could take Wild seriously as he himself broke out into a fit of giggles. The laughter lasted for a while before anyone could calm down enough to speak. 

“Oh, I have one!” Four said, “It’s not really a prank but, Ze… Dot and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. She would sneak out of the palace all the time to get away from her lessons and come play. So one time we were in Castle Town just walking along, and she was telling me about how her dad was getting annoyed that she was sneaking out all the time. Then she said”—Four did his best impression of a princess—“‘so I decided that this time I’m not sneaking out. You’re kidnapping me, guess we need to stay away from the guards!’ And then anytime we got near a guard she would tell them that I kidnapped her that day! We kept running away from the guards and I’m pretty sure the only reason I wasn’t arrested is because I was 7… well, that and the guards knew we were friends, but still.” Everyone chuckled at that, though it didn’t get any big hearty laughs. Four shrugged at the minimal response, they thought it was funny anyway. “Who’s next? How about you, Veteran?”

Legend shook his head, nose wrinkling at the prompt. “Oh no, that is not happening.”

“Legend appeared fully formed out of the air, he’s too serious to admit having been a kid,” Wind teased.

Legend glared at Wind, “Fine. Just give me a second!” Everyone waited, holding back chuckles and giving each other sidelong glances as Legend thought. “Okay, I don’t have any crazy prank stories like the rest of you, but my Uncle was a bit of a prankster when I was growing up. He’d hid these little wooden snakes he had around the house to try and make me jump, sometimes he’d just rearrange the house while I was asleep and pretend it had always been like that. More than once he pretended I was invisible. He’d hide behind stuff and jump out to scare me… I would do stuff too, but we didn’t really do elaborate stuff like what the Old Man described.”

The story didn’t get any laughs, but it gained a few smiles and nods from around the room. Wild chuckled, it seemed like even the smallest things could be meaningful. He leaned back and found he was running his hand over the smooth shells on his old… new? Necklace. The others continued to tell stories, switching to times they pranked others and coming up with increasingly ridiculous stories to the point that Wild was fairly certain every single one of them was lying. 

The atmosphere was light and happy, a welcome mood. But they were all heroes that knew to be ever alert, so when the door suddenly opened everyone went silent, all eyes snapping to the intruder.

Flora looked over the room and smiled awkwardly when she caught Wild’s eye. “Hi, Link. I didn’t realize you’d be home… well, until I was coming over the bridge and heard all the noise. Did I miss something interesting?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge, gigantic THANK YOU to Tash from over on the LU server, my new beta reader! You can thank them for any sudden jump in quality you might notice! XD


	8. Flora's Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flora gets introduced to the boys and caught up on what she missed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A million thank yous to Tash for Beta reading!

Wild stood up, almost going to attention but stopping himself just short of it. He could see Flora’s shoulders sag slightly at the action. “Zelda,” he said, walking over to her and giving her a slightly awkward hug. “It’s good to see you. I love the haircut.” He turned to the group and said, “Everyone, this is Zelda, and these are—”

“Let me guess first,” Flora interrupted with excitement. “Also, you told me about the nicknames in that letter you left with Kass, so don’t confuse them and just call me Flora like you do with them. I think it’s quite cute.” Wild’s face reddened at the comment while she looked over the group. “Or, no. That would be rude, I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy me examining you all like a ruin for study. I got excited because of what L-Wild told me a fair bit about you in the last letter I got from him.”

The room was silent until Wind shattered the quiet with a laugh. A few of the others joined in, giving each other meaningful looks, until Time finally said, “I, for one, would be curious to see how many of us you can get right.” There was a general chorus of agreement from the group.

Flora smiled and went to sit with them. “Well, a few of you are easy,”—she nodded at Time—“your scar gives you away, Hero of Time. I’d like to ask you some questions about your journey later, actually, if that’s okay.”

Time gave a slight bow in greeting. “I would be happy to answer some, Princess.”

Legend rolled his eyes at the formality.

“Titles really aren’t necessary,” Flora said with a shrug. She looked around the room, holding her chin between her thumb and pointer finger. “Let’s see... Hero of Twilight, with the wolf pelt. That’s you, then?” She asked Twilight.

“Spot on.”

“Thank you for keeping an eye on Wild. I know he can be quite the handful!”

“Hey!” Wild said, playfully elbowing Flora. “I’m not as bad as you are!”

Twilight snorted. “I highly doubt that.”

“At least I can focus on a task for more than ten minutes,” Flora countered, giving Twilight a commiserating look. She pursed her lips and looked over the other boys, settling her gaze on Sky. “Oh, and the Master Sword must mean you’re the Hero of the Sky!” 

“Indeed I am,” Sky responded, “Fi tells me you are quite the force to be reckoned with.”

“I shall take that as a compliment.”

At this point, everyone was ribbing one another, making jokes about who she would think was who and justifying why. She had an infectious energy that was making everyone, even Legend, enjoy the little game. All that was missing was an incorrect guess to throw it over the top...

“Hmm, the youngest is the Hero of the Winds.” She looked around, examining the remaining heroes. Her gaze flitted between Wind and Four for a moment until she finally rested it upon the smallest of the bunch, her eyes shining. “Is that you?” She asked Four.

The room erupted with laughter at that, Flora flustering at the response. Though Wild noticed it seemed… a tad exaggerated.

Four was laughing as well, but managed to hold himself together enough to say, in a mock-pirate accent, “Ah yes, I make the ocean me home and pilot me pirate ship, hoisting the sail and… uh… tying the thing!” The impression fell a little flat as Four ran out of sailing terms immediately.

Flora sputtered out a most unladylike laugh at the impression and wiped tears from her eyes. “Oh I see.” She gave Wind, who was now glaring at Four, a mischievous smile. “Then  _ you _ must be Four.”

Wind grinned. “Oh yeah, you can tell from my giant blacksmith muscles and how I never pull pranks cause I’m way too serious and put together.” 

Everyone was laughing even harder now, but Legend eventually managed to wave a hand in Four’s direction and say, “That’s Four, they’re just short.”

Flora laughed at the correction and feigned shock. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead.” She was clearly baiting them, and it was gladly taken.

Warriors wiped away tears from the laughter, wheezing, “No, please continue, this is great.” Everyone else gave a chorus of agreement.

Flora smiled at the encouragement and looked over the remaining heroes. Everyone was finally starting to collect themselves, though chortles and snorts still rang around the room. She turned to Wind and gave a slight bow “You, of course, must be the true Hero of Wind.”

“Uh huh!” Wind answered, beaming. As she moved on he leaned over to Four and half whispered, “She thought I was older than you.” Four playfully shoved the younger hero in retaliation.

“Alright. Wild said the Hero of Hyrule… Well, I think Wild should be the one to say that, actually,” Flora said cryptically, which made Hyrule look at Wild in confusion. “Ah ha! You then?”

Hyrule shook his head but replied, “Uh, what? Yes. What did he say?” Hyrule glared at Wild, who was just laughing at the antics and enjoying the show. 

Flora chuckled, “I’m sorry, he didn’t really describe you physically like the others. He just said you shared his penchant for distractions and were fun to run off with. I thought I could make you react to something like that, and it worked.” 

Wild stopped laughing and blushed, clearly embarrassed for his and Hyrule’s distractible tendencies being called out. “Hey, that’s not what I said!”

“Not exactly, but it’s what you meant, isn’t it?” She looked mischievously at Hyrule and Wild, “Please, tell me I’m wrong if I am?” Hyrule and Wild looked at each other, both opening and closing their mouths helplessly because they couldn’t refute the claim. Especially as everyone else declared how correct she was. Flora giggled and turned to Legend and Warriors. “Alright, that just leaves you two.” 

The pair exchanged glances, Warriors smiling while Legend just sighed, though smiling just the same as the rest.

“I am somehow unsurprised we ended up last,” Legend said, eyeing Flora as though he expected her to admit this had all been planned from the start.

“The Hero of Legend is the most experienced of you, in terms of different adventures at least,” Flora said. “Wild mentioned he was self confident and had the skills to back that up.” She seemed to be purposefully drawing this out. Wild wasn’t sure if it was for dramatic effect or because she wasn’t sure who was who, but either way she seemed to be having fun building the suspense. “And the Hero of Warriors is a captain for the army. He had allies that were pulled out of time to fight in the battle. A confident man that knows where he belongs. Quite similar, if you ask me.” She paused a moment, the others’ anticipation building at her silence. She seemed to enjoy the fun tension of the moment. Everyone was silent and focused on the three. “Hero of Legend?” She asked Warriors.

Legend groaned and brought his hands to his face while the room erupted with laughter and jokes at the expense of the two. Warriors affected a look of exaggerated offense and said, “My dear lady, I don’t know how you could possibly think I was so jaded as Legend here, but I assure you I am far more civilized than he is.”

Legend rolled his eyes. “Only if being a hopeless flirt is civilized.”

“I will keep that in mind,” Flora replied. Around her, the room was settling down from the excitement of the guessing game and everyone was settling into their own conversations. Legend and Warriors were arguing over who was more civilized. Four and Wind started doing impressions of all the others for each other. Hyrule was poking fun at Time, Sky, and Twilight for being recognizable by appearance while he got recognized by personality; they turned that on him by pointing out that it was because of his tendency to get into trouble.

Flora looked around the room, glad the mood was high. She turned to Wild. “So what was I interrupting when I came in? You all seemed to be... reminiscing?” 

Her voice sounded so hopeful, but she hesitated, just a little bit, when mentioning reminiscence. Wild was sure she wanted nothing more than for him to get his memories back. To remember his friends, family… her. 

He had asked her not to tell him about his old self, and she respected that wish. Every time the subject came up, he knew she was holding back for his sake. She didn’t want to force expectations on him or seem to be judgmental or rushing. He appreciated that, as he wasn’t always sure if he wanted to know what he didn’t remember. She insisted he was the same as ever, memories or no, he hesitated to call that wishful thinking. He hadn’t told her how disjointed he felt from his past self. He didn’t want to disappoint her.

This time, he wouldn’t.

Flora relaxed as he smiled gently and took her hand. He was excited to share and glad to ease her doubts, and it showed on his face. “ _ Everyone _ was talking about their childhood.” The emphasis he gave made Flora gasp in excitement at his meaning. He raised a hand to the smooth, shell necklace as he thought. Her eyes were drawn to the movement. “We found a box full of stuff, and this necklace made me remember something about my little sister.”

Flora beamed with elation. “Oh Wild, that’s so exciting! Do you mind sharing?” 

Wild happily obliged, describing the memory again. He took his time, describing every detail. The joy on his sister’s face. The sudden weight as she flew into his arms. The way the wind pulled at the girl’s hair. The subtle differences of how the house looked. The way his father’s smile pulled at his beard... 

Flora smiled the entire time, asking little questions to get every detail he wanted to share. It was a ritual that had developed between the two when he regained a happy memory. “That’s so fantastic! Your father seemed wonderful, and your sister sounds like she was a lovely child.”

Wild’s smile faltered for a moment at Flora’s wording—it was too impersonal to be about someone she had met. “I was hoping… maybe you knew more about her? I haven’t finished going through the box, but… the necklace was the first thing to trigger a memory. I don’t even remember their names.”

Her eyebrows scrunched up in thought and she sighed, looking down at her hands and clasping them in her lap. “I know a little, but you really didn’t talk much back then without coaxing. Even when you did open up, you were always reluctant to share personal details.” She looked around the room, biting her lip. Everyone was enrapt in their own conversation, but she still asked, “Would you like to talk in private?”

Wild’s face had fallen as Flora spoke, but he made himself smile as he answered. “I’m fine with them here, if you’re okay with it. I’ve enjoyed sharing what I’ve learned about my family with everyone, so if they listen in it’s not a big deal.”

“Alright. Well, as you know, your father was a knight. His name was Steven, and he was a quite well decorated knight.” Flora started digging in her side bag, continuing as she looked. “I wrote down what I remembered about his career, let me find it, I know I have it with me somewhere…” She pulled a small notebook out and flipped until she found what she was looking for. The movement caught Twilight’s attention, who came over, looked at Wild for permission, and sat down to join them.

Flora gave Twilight a small smile in greeting before turning back to Wild. “Your father was awarded a number of honors for his bravery and skill. He played a pivotal role in a number of battles to defend settlements from both monsters and Yiga, which led to him moving up the ranks quite steadily.”

Talk of a military career caught Warriors’ attention. He abandoned the argument to come and listen as well. Legend didn’t look particularly interested, but he joined them with a huff all the same.

Flora ignored the growing audience. “With his high rank, he was often sent around the kingdom, accompanying diplomatic missions and helping to take out particularly troublesome monster nests. You accompanied him on the diplomatic missions when you were young.”

“He was probably a great fighter,” Warriors noted.

“As for your personal relationship, you spoke highly of him. He began teaching you to fight from a very young age, when you showed a skill and interest in it. You also once told me he was quite the joker. Always telling stories to you and your sister, fooling around with the children in every settlement you visited when he could. ”

“And a fantastic man,” Twi added, playing off Warriors’ comment.

The stillness of their side of the room brought them the attention of the others. The room had once again settled and they were all giving Flora the attention one might expect children to give a school teacher.

Flora looked unsure of herself as she formed her next thought, especially now that all eyes were on her again. “When your sister was born you would have been around 10, I think…” She consulted the small notebook, “Yes, I think that’s right. Unfortunately, your mother passed around that time as well, though I don’t know the details. When your sister was old enough, she joined you and your father when you traveled, though you traveled significantly less at that point.”

“Wait, but what about until then? Did he take a few years off or hire someone to watch her?” Sky asked—he doubted Wild’s father traveled with a baby.

Flora shook her head. “I don’t know, it didn’t come up. That’s… really all I know about him, actually.” She gave Wild an apologetic look. “I’m sorry I never thought to ask you more.”

“It’s fine, really,” Wild said, silently cursing his past self for being so reserved. “What about my sister?”

“You talked about her a fair bit, well… a fair bit for you, I mean,” Flora said, with a nostalgic smile that made Wild’s heart ache with the desire to be the one she was thinking of. “You told me your sister loved to play-fight with you. You taught her just like your father taught you. You also cooked together every chance you got… you… you said your mother taught you to cook, and it made your sister feel like she knew her.”

Wind laughed. “Cooking with siblings is always fun, I bet you both loved those times.”

Wild huffed quietly, not quite able to fully extinguish the wistfulness he felt as he remembered the notes in the cookbook. “Yeah. I bet she had a sweet tooth.”

“I think you told me she did once, actually! You loved her dearly and I would sometimes see you writing letters to her while we were traveling. I asked you who you were writing to once and you said ‘the little fairy girl waiting for you at home, whose smile could heal any wound’,” Flora revealed, giggling at some unseen memory. This received an ‘aww’ from just about everyone. “Whenever you told me about her you always called her little fairy or Navi, though that was just a nickname.” 

Time looked away at the mention of the name, Wild noticed. He decided he needed to ask him about that; hopefully Time wouldn’t be upset if he did.

“Apparently the nickname came from an old story—another thing you were rather sparse on the details of, I’m afraid. You just told me that when you pulled the sword, the Great Deku Tree told you a story, and the name came from that. If you get the chance, you can certainly ask him about it!” Flora furrowed her brow, deep in thought. “You must have told me her name, at least once...” 

She flipped through the note book for a moment, muttering under her breath before she closed it. The room was silent as the grave while she thought, the looks being shared were not very hopeful. Eventually she shook her head in defeat. “You called her Navi or little fairy so much, nothing else is coming to mind as a name. I’m really sorry.”

Wild grabbed her hand and held it gently. “That’s okay. That was more than enough. Thank you.” They sat like that for a moment, until Legend coughed and started a conversation with the person closest to him. Everyone got the message and broke off since story time was over. Wild let go of Flora’s hand like it had become a hot coal, both of them suddenly unable to look the other in the eye for a moment. “So… uh… want to see the box?”

Flora’s eyes sparkled as she answered, “Absolutely!”


	9. Wildflowers and Wild Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flora gets to see what's in the box, and the pair look at the second book together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always to Tash for Beta reading! They're the best!

Flora and Wild were sitting by the pond outside with the box between them. After looking at the family portrait, Wild showed her all the small trinkets, and she confirmed a few of his suspicions. The feather was Revali’s; the jar of sand had been a gift from Urbosa; the empty vial was once full of the waters from Zora’s domain, a token from Mipha; and Daruk had given him the replica Goron ruby.

“You and Daruk were friends before we even met,” Flora said, “He was quite fond of you.”

“He mentioned that meeting in his training journal,” Wild said, smiling down at the trinket that had been hidden amongst the rocks. “I don’t imagine I met Revali or Urbosa until I became your knight, though.”

“Not to my knowledge at least,” Flora confirmed. “Well, the trinkets are certainly interesting. You got them while we traveled. I think I know where they gave them to you and where you might have picked up that feather. Perhaps if you take the items to where you got them, you’ll recover more memories? Like with the pictures.”

Wild perked up at the idea. “Maybe. Once I finish traveling with the others, I’ll go look for those places.”

“Oh, nonsense,” Flora said, taking out her notebook and ripping out a blank page. She wrote as she spoke. “From the sounds of it, this journey is going to be long, and you are all being flung through time and space with no discernible pattern. If you end up near one of the places, I am certain the others would not mind if you take a small detour.” She handed him the note. In her neatest handwriting, she had written down where, to her best knowledge, he had received each item.

Wild smiled as he took the note. “If we end up in the areas… that makes sense, yeah. Thanks, Zelda.” He put it away and pulled out the cookbook to show her. Flora looked through and chuckled at the notes, but she couldn’t add any more insight than the boys had. Once she had finished skimming through the book, the pair moved on. “There’s also this book. I haven’t looked through it yet.”

“Would you like some time alone with it first?”

Wild shook his head. “No, it’s nice to have you here.” He opened the book. The first page had a small, blue wild flower pressed flat, held between the pages.

Flipping through, it seemed the pages were blank, the book was full of pressed flowers. They were pretty but didn’t really tell Wild anything besides that he must have pressed flowers as a hobby. Flora provided some commentary as he flipped, saying what each flower was and where it was most commonly found.

Eventually, more than halfway through the filled pages, they came to a page with a pressed Swift Violet. On the right hand page someone had written “grows on cliffs, used in cooking.” From that page on, it seemed that each flower had little notes, getting more and more detailed as they flipped through. Some of the notes mentioned where the flower had been picked, others described its taste or use. A few mentioned that they were the favorite flower of one person or another. Laba liked cold safflinas. Ena liked blue asters. Micu loved daisies. 

Flora didn’t recognize most of the people’s names, only Mipha’s—written down as liking blue nightshade—stood out as familiar to her. A few leaves were thrown in the mix as well, and those often said they looked like the leaf on one Korok or another. Even Hestu was listed among those. 

Wild sighed while looking at a small white flower labeled ‘Aria’s favorite’ and lowered the book. Flora waited a minute to see if he would speak. The look on his face, the way he very lightly bit his lip and his fingers twitched… he was holding himself back from saying something again. “What is it? You can tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Any one of these names could be my sister. It feels silly to get so fixated on that, but… I just wish I knew her name.”

“It is  _ not _ silly. It’s perfectly reasonable to want to know,” Flora countered, “and you’re right. Her name probably is in there. Maybe… would you let me look through the book on my own later? Maybe her name will come back to me, you never know.”

“It’s worth a shot. I’m going to finish looking through it first, though.” Wild did just that.

It was all more of the same, some flowers had more detailed notes, others less. At some point Wild wasn’t even reading the notes, just glancing over them. Nothing stood out until the final page. It didn’t have a pressed flower. On the left page was a drawing of a silent princess. The right had text that read, “Saw on the anniversary growing next to mom’s grave. Left it for her, I hope she likes the company. I know she would have liked the real princess.” A date a little over a century ago was scrawled underneath. 

Wild quietly closed the book and handed it to Flora. Learning when his mother died… he had expected it to hit hard, but it didn’t. He didn’t feel anything at the discovery. Should he? That should be significant. But he didn’t remember anything about her, not her face or her voice. She must’ve died when he was still young, going by the date, before he even pulled the Master Sword for the first time. Memory fades with age—what if he hadn’t even remembered those things before the Shrine?

Unease curdled in his stomach at the thought, and Wild stood as Flora flipped through the book he had handed her, suddenly too restless to sit any longer. “There’s also a bunch of letters in the box. I’ve only read one so far, you can read it if you like.” He put the box in the slate, but left the one letter for Flora to read. “I’m going to go for a walk. If I’m not back for a while… No… I’ll be fine. I’ll stay in town.”

Flora gave Wild a concerned look but nodded. “I’ll let the others know. Don’t wonder too far.”

Wild waved and walked off towards the bridge into town, his mind filling with all the new information from the last day. Had it really only been one day? Wild shook his head, looking around the town as he reached the bottom of the hill.

It was late enough that no one was out, the cool night air held only the sound of crickets calling to one another. The small insects were crying out for companionship, while he was only just stopping himself from running away from the people that cared for him most. As much as he appreciated Flora and the others, he needed to be alone with his thoughts. Isolation had become a safety net for him, it was all he truly knew. Away from the questions and concerns of others, he could finally think through everything that he had learned. He let his feet wander as his mind flew in a dozen different directions.

100 years ago, he had lived here with his family. What had Hateno been like back then? It was said to be untouched by the Calamity… but that wasn’t quite true. The guardians might not have made it to the village, but how many people had lost their lives defending the Fort? How many people had successfully evacuated to the village and made it their new home? Those first few years while he slept and Zelda held the Calamity at bay must have changed the village in innumerable ways.

When Bolson sold him his house, he had said it had belonged to a knight that reported to the castle and never came back. That must have been his father, right? So had he died to the Calamity? But the letter from his sister had said the Sheikah told ‘us’ he had gotten hurt. So his father must have survived, or who else would she have been talking about? The rest of the town? Wild had so many questions, and he knew the box couldn’t answer any of them with how they were all based on the time after his failure.

Eventually, Wild found himself next to the ancient furnace. The soft blue glow of the giant apparatus had pulled him in like a moth while his mind wandered. He sat down next to it and just watched the blue flame flicker for a time, the calming light emptying his thoughts.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he pulled the box back out of the slate. He had to know what the letters said—at least that was a question he could answer. He had been putting it off, fearing they wouldn’t hold any secrets. He didn’t want to be disappointed. Now, though, he just wanted to know. Flora could only tell him so much, and he couldn’t keep running from his forgotten memories.

Wild took all three stacks and the remaining loose letter. The three stacks were clearly carefully separated and bound with string for a reason, though Wild couldn’t discern the pattern just by looking. One of the stacks was large, holding both loose papers and letters that had been opened and placed back into their envelopes. The second stack had at least a dozen letters, all neatly sealed but unaddressed. The final stack held only a handful of letters, tied together and each one sealed with wax. Wild flipped the stack over and saw, in sloppy, childish writing, ‘To future me. Open when 20.’

Setting the three stacks and the loose letter down in front of him, Wild examined them in the flickering blue light. He took a deep breath and huffed out an unamused laugh as he found himself hesitating. “Can’t put this off forever,” he muttered to himself as he reached for the first of many letters. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Vote down in the comments which he should go through first, whichever one is most popular will be the one he reads in the next chapter! Your choices are:
> 
> 1) the solitary letter  
> 2) the big, messy stack  
> 3) the neat, unaddressed letters  
> 4) the 'To future me' letters
> 
> I'm going to start writing on Wednesday so vote before then!


	10. To Future Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild reads letters a young Link wrote as a time capsule for when he turned 20.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! If you're interested, I wrote the letters by hand you can view them in this google drive folder here. I did my best to capture the different handwriting styles for each age.  
> https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cefpZ1PwQJ_4gRWF0tPtIsKa2z-K9Rtq?usp=sharing

> _ To futre me, _
> 
> _ I have to rite this for scool… you know that. This is a dum  _ ~~_asin_ _assin_~~ _ assignment. Dad said not to call it dum. Mom said to rite a leder to myself like this when something importent hapens. She likes the idea to do it till I’m 20. What if something hapens when i turn 20? Oh well. _

Wild felt himself grin at the childish script and poorly spelled words. "Well," he murmured to himself, "we missed 20 by a few years, but better late than never, I suppose." It was... relieving to know he had been a normal kid, one that just wanted to run and play. One with a mother and a father, one that had been in school, even if his writing didn't seem particularly well-off for it. He leaned against the warm metal of the furnace, angling the paper to better catch the light.

> _ Your big, you beter be a knight already! Have you met the princess!? That’d be cool, I bet she’s real nice! Like Mipha! Since she’s a princess to. How is Mipha? i hope we stay friends, she’s the best! And Sidon! He’s fun to play with!  _

It was startling to see Mipha’s name. He’d heard before that they’d known each other since his childhood, but seeing the fact immortalized so flippantly in chicken scratch print was jarring compared to the stiff engravings and booming tones of the Zora. The easy mention made Wild’s heart ache, but he couldn’t help but smile at the thought of comparing her to Zelda. They were very different people, but to a child those differences wouldn’t matter.

> _ Whats importent?I’m gonna be a big brother soon! Mom looks like she ate a whole hidromelon! She lets me feel her belly and sometimes the baby kicks me! i told mom i’m gonna teach the baby to fight and she laughed and said she might not want to learn. That’s silly! Fighting is fun! i can take on all the village guards at once now, and they don’t even hold back! i think. Were they? You can ask them now. Its wierd that adults are so weak. I bet the baby will be strong like me! _

Wild chuckled. He had heard of his skills as a child. They were hard to imagine—a child, fighting and winning against adults? He thinks of Koko holding up a sword, fighting against her father, and the amusing image veils the sticky dread that comes with the idea. Wind, at least, was a teenager, but a child like he had to have been? He shakes his head free of those musings and refocuses back onto the letter.

A smaller version of himself trying to teach a toddler to wield a sword, thinking it perfectly natural to do so. He snorts. Perhaps he even did at one point.

> _ Mom says the baby is gonna be a girl but she didn’t say how she knows. Kazi said his mom thought  _ _ he _ _ was gonna be a girl, so mom might be wrong! A little sister would be cute, but I want a little brother! ill teach him to cook and climb and fight and we’ll go exploring! i guess I can do that with a sister to. Unless she only likes girly things like dresses and dolls. but Mipha and Laba aren’t like that. i guess a sister is ok. _

“Who were Kazi and Laba?” Wild muttered out loud, smile slipping as he wondered. He recognized the names from the flower book. Laba… had liked Cool Safflina, he thinks, and Kazi had liked Blue Nightshade? Maybe. There were a lot of names, and he couldn’t be certain. 

They must have been his friends. He looked at the names again, trying to commit them to memory. Kazi and Laba. Kazi and Laba. Two more missing pieces of his past. Two more people to learn about.

And he had wanted a brother. Had he been disappointed? It seemed unlikely. He had been happy to see her in his memory, and even in the letter he seemed to not truly care. He wondered if they had gone exploring, like he’d wanted.

> _ Being a big brother is going to be fun anyway. Did you teach the baby to cook with mom? You should make everyone cake tonight! i’m gonna ask mom if i can have cake now. _
> 
> _ Link, 8 _

Wild sighed in contentment as he put the letter down. He didn’t know what he had been expecting. It was refreshing to know he had been a fairy average, happy child, regardless of any strength he may have had. He was glad his mother had made him write these letters. He’d had normal goals and aspirations. He was just normal at one point. It was a nice thought.

His mind drifted to the recipe book as he folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. He’d even taught his little sister to cook. _Sorry, kid._ _I can’t make cake for her. But I’ll make some for my friends anyway._

He picked up the next letter in the stack and began reading.

> _ THIS IS SO COOL!!! There’s no way you forgot this, but mom woulda wanted me to write about it! I can’t wait to go back again! Dad’s gotta train me more! Maybe I can go to the Knight Academy early?? Did I?! I wish you could tell me! Dad said ‘no younger than 15’ but that’s dumb! I’m old enough now! I already beat all the guards I bet I could even beat a lynel! I wish you could come back and tell him to let me join now. _

Wild smirked humorlessly at the first line. He really did have to be thankful to his mother for making the kid write these. He had clearly been overly excited when he started this one to have forgotten to even address it. So eager to join the knights, too. The kid got his wish, at least, even if he wasn’t sure at what age he got in. 

> _ Here’s what happened: I found the Master Sword! Dad took me to see the Training camp near Minish Woods to see what real training was like, then I went to play with the Koroks, we played hide and seek, Hestu was real bad at it but everyone else was really good. So good I got a little lost and forgot to check the time.  _
> 
> _ It was ok, though! I ended up in the Lost Woods and it was really misty and dark, but I wasn’t scared! There was really nice music that led me to where all the Koroks live! _
> 
> _ There was a cool sword that could talk! She knew my name and I pulled out her out to talk! Then this HUUUGE tree started talking to me! He said he was the Deku Tree and he told me all about the ancient heroes! A bunch of stuff you don’t learn in school! Like that the Hero of the Wind had a little sister! And the Hero of Time had a fairy that helped him on his quest named Navi! I don’t have a fairy, but I have a sister! She can be my Navi! Cause I’m the Hero! _

Wild’s breath caught in his throat. So that was why Time reacted to the name. The older hero had never told them about that. It felt… wrong to know. He would certainly need to talk to him, now. He wouldn’t show this letter to the others without Time’s permission. That was his story to tell, no one else’s.

And a voice from the sword? He had heard Fi? He remembered Flora asking if he could, and he remembered a sound from the sword when he fell, but right from the start? He hadn’t heard her again until he completed the Trial of the Sword...

> _ The tree said I was too young for the sword. Meanie. He said I should put it back cause she was old and tired so I should come get her when I need her. So now I GOTTA become a knight so the tree will let me have the sword! You got the sword by now, right?  _
> 
> _ That’s it for this one! I’m gonna go tell Laba and Kazi about this! (Dad said to keep it a secret from everybody but they’re not gonna tell anyone) _
> 
> _ Link, 12 _

Too young for the sword. Wild agreed with the Great Deku Tree, strong and skilled or not. Even as he felt shame for having to go through so much training the second time, those trials drove the importance of drawing the weapon home. The sword carried many responsibilities with it, responsibilities that had driven his past self to close off from the world. Responsibilities he still carried to this day. Responsibilities he sometimes wished belonged to someone else. 

That his dad had wanted to keep it a secret showed he understood the pressure that would come with the find. Wild… could not imagine three 12-year-olds managing to keep it a secret, however.

Wild reached for the next letter automatically.

> _ Future me, _
> 
> _ I got accepted into the knight academy. One of the youngest ever to get in.  _ ~~_ I almost wish I di _ ~~ _ It’s all I wanted growing up, so I’m happy.  _ ~~_ I don’t have a ch _ ~~ _ I have a duty to fulfil. Dad was reluctant, he didn’t want me to go yet  _ ~~_ but I need to _ ~~ _ but the other adults found out about the sword, they kept  _ ~~_press_ _tell_~~ _ asking him  _ ~~_when I w_ _why I had_~~ _ to send me. I asked, too.  _ ~~_ I made him sad _ ~~ _ I have to. _

The stark change in tone hit Wild like a slap to the face. There was no excitement, no joy that the other two had held. Words were scribbled out in distressed, deep lines, some of them crossed out so angrily he could hardly make out what lay underneath. 

His eyes reflexively flicked to the bottom of the page. 13. Only one year had brought such a change.

> _ They say I shouldn’t play with Laba and Kazi, since I should focus on training to protect Hyrule.  _ ~~_It’s dum_ _I just wanted a brea_~~ _ They’re right. Everyone’s counting on me to protect them.  _ ~~_Can’t they_ _why only_ _If I hadn_~~ _ I should have taken the sword right away, then I’d be further along  _ ~~_ and they’d leave me alo _ ~~
> 
> _Sometimes I hear them talking_ ~~ _loud jer_~~ _about how it was unfit for “Hylia’s Chosen Hero”_ ~~ _(I hate being call_~~ _to do anything_ _except_ _train._ ~~ _I wann_ _No one else has to_~~ _I can_ _feel_ _people watching me when I go into town. They talk about everything I do and say._ ~~ _They don’t w_ _I can’t esc_ _I still tr_~~ _Their lives are at stake, of course they get worried when I act like_ ~~ _Laba_~~ _a child. I have to set an example, I have to fulfill my duty. I heard the Princess prays every day to unlock her powers. I don’t even_ _have_ _powers so I_ _gotta_ _have to train._ ~~ _Does she get brea_ _I bet she_~~ ~~_could we be fri_~~ _I need to have the same devotion to my training to serve her._

Wild frowned. He knew his past self hadn’t spoken much after a certain point. He supposed this was the start of that. A young child, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. The rumors and pressure building to the point where even in a private letter to himself he tried to police what he said.

As the world pressured him to grow up fast, he had molded himself into what he thought they wanted. A silent knight that would take away their problems. Wild thought back to the shell necklace. He had been open with his father, at least. His family and friends would have been his support. Laba and Kazi must have helped, right?

Wild turned the paper over and his heart sank as he read the next line.

> _I haven’t talked much_ ~~ _at all_~~ _to Laba and Kazi the last couple weeks. I heard some people spreading rumors about Laba getting close to me because of the sword._ ~~ _I should have punc_~~ ~~_they don’t kn_~~ ~~_We’ve been friends for year_~~ ~~_She was really nice aft_~~ ~~_what if they’re_~~ **_I know it’s not true_** _. I could tell it was hard for her to deal with._ ~~ _It’s not fair_~~ ~~_she doesn’t des_~~ ~~_we don’t_~~ ~~_why can’t they just leave us_~~ _I told her it’d be_ ~~ _bet_~~ _easier for her if we_ ~~ _saw each other less_~~ _hung out_ _less. She got upset. Kazi heard and yelled at me._ ~~ _I ran_~~ ~~_I haven’t seen_~~ ~~_we’re avoid_~~ ~~_we trie_~~ _Staying apart might be better. We all wanted to get into the knight academy and it might be hard for them if people know they’re my friends._ ~~ _What if they’re jel_~~ _I’ll keep my distance, write a bit to stay in touch but I don’t want to make things difficult for them. Are we still friends in the future?_ _ ~~Can I have frie~~_
> 
> _ I’ll write to Dad, too.  _ ~~_He’ll hel_ _keep in touch with /_~~ _ Family is important. A hero needs a Navi, afterall. Dad said he’d tell me when I’m ready to get the Master Sword.  _ ~~_I don’t wa_ _can someone el_~~ _ It’s too important to wait. The sooner I get it,  _ ~~_ the sooner it’ll be ove _ ~~ _ the better. Everyone is counting on me.  _
> 
> _ Link, 13 _

He had let the rumors drive him away from his friends. He had decided his burden was too heavy to share and took it all on himself. His determination to keep touch with his family may have been one support, but he had driven away the others.

Wild found it admirable, in a way. His past self had been strong and determined. He knew his sword skills were far and away above the average. He had been better than he was now in so many ways. Thinking of how many friends Wild had across Hyrule, he supposed he had one leg up on his past. He was much better at socializing now. Even if he wasn’t able to be the hero the past would have wanted, that was once change he was glad for.

With a sigh, Wild started reading the next letter.

> _ For the Future, _
> 
> _ It has been a long time since I wrote one of these. My latest trip home reminded me of the concept. They are a useful record, so I have decided to add to them. I did not appreciate them when I was younger, but I can see the value of them now. Many things have happened since I last wrote. I met Daruk, retrieved the Master Sword, saw Mipha again, she is as I remembered her. I have also become Zelda’s Knight.  _

Yet another change. This letter was in cursive, and it almost felt practiced. As though it had gone through numerous revisions before being sealed. The lines were neat and the writing as careful as any military report. A result of his time in the academy, Wild supposed.

> _ The Goron Champion and my sworn brother, Daruk, is a great warrior and friend. I met him on a trip to Death Mountain before I retrieved the Sword. He is fond of a good meal, and we have spent much time together. _
> 
> _ Mipha is the Zora Champion. Her healing magic and spear skills made her the obvious candidate. She is one of the kindest people I know. I have known her since childhood, and we have grown close recently. _
> 
> _ The Gerudo Chief Urbosa is intelligent and observant. The Rito Champion Ravali is quite skilled. I am not particularly close with either. _

Nothing, no emotion. How could he ever have been like this? It sounded more like he was listing characteristics of an animal than his relations with friends. Even with Mipha, it was cold and distant.

> _ I went and retrieved the Master Sword around a year ago. Initially, I was granted a certain amount of freedom of movement once I revealed who I was. It did not last long, as I caught His Majesty’s attention when a malfunctioning Guardian targeted the Princess. I protected her from the laser and was appointed as her knight shortly after. _
> 
> _ Princess Zelda is passionate, driven, and determined. She spends nearly all her time praying and researching. We are not close, and she has made it clear she does not desire to be. _
> 
> _ Link, 16 _

Wild shook his head as he placed the letter (if it could even be called that) back down. How could he have been so singularly focused? It made sense now, how Mipha’s diary described his change. If he wrote like this in a letter to himself… no wonder Flora had found him so difficult to be around! A Guardian had more emotion than this!

The next letter was the longest of the bunch. Based on the pattern, this must have been shortly before the Calamity. Wild settled in for more of Mr. Perfect Hero, sure this letter would be as report-like as the last.

> _ To my future self, _
> 
> _I turned 17 today. It hit me hard when I got a package from little Navi. She made me a care package with some of her crafts and candy for my birthday. I don’t know how many more of those I will have. I might_ ~~ _die_~~ ~~_not succeed_~~ _fall in the battle against Calamity Ganon even_ _ ~~if we win~~._ _when_ _we win. Not if. Never if. I_ _know_ _we will succeed. Everyone is counting on us, Zelda and Mipha and Revali and Daruk and Urbosa and_ _me_ _._
> 
> _ We have to maintain the peace. _

It was plain handwriting again, it looked like a note scrawled with no care for who would see it. The ink thinned and pooled where a hesitant hand had faltered, and deep strokes crossed words out almost desperately. Had he really been so unsure? In just the last letter he had been so confident, had been how Wild always pictured his past self, but this… 

> _Zelda is trying even harder than before lately. The King ordered it. I’m afraid for her, he pushes her too hard._ ~~ _I understand His Majesty’s frustrations but_~~ _She hasn’t touched any of the ancient tech lately. I hoped she would on our way to the Spring of Power, I thought it would cheer her up, but she said it was pointless hope. She says it won’t unlock her power, that she must pray harder._ ~~ _I hate it_~~ ~~_I don’t believ_~~
> 
> _I don’t think I ever wrote about it before, but_ ~~ _the Prin_~~ _Zelda and I… I thought she hated me. Urbosa was right when she said Zelda didn’t. She hates what I represent, I think. She tried apologizing, and I think I understand._ ~~ _It’s that_~~ ~~ _The rum_~~ ~~_His_~~ _She has a lot of pressure on her. It_ ~~ _doesn’t_~~ _didn’t help that I was too quiet for her, I think. She thought I was being dismissive. I need to work on that._

His lips thinned as he read. It had been a bad situation for everyone, and their coping methods had ended up clashing. He could understand it now, even if regret tasted bitter on his tongue. The worst thing, though, is that for a time he had… 

After waking up in the Shrine of Resurrection, he had no memories of Zelda. She had just been the golden voice guiding him. Even when Impa had told him more, he didn’t  _ remember _ anything until later, and then he’d stumbled upon a memory in front of a shrine.

Her golden voice, one of the few things he held to trust in an unfamiliar world, was pitched in frustration. Her eyes burned with resentment as she looked at him, and Wild as Link as  _ Link _ had felt frozen, terrified and confused.

For a time, he thought she hated him. For a time, he had hated her for it.

As he reread that section again, he sighed. By the time he’d gone to fight Calamity, his feelings had changed, but he didn’t have the heart to ever tell her about his turmoil during his journey. Now, Wild couldn’t help but wonder: did he feel the same way in the life before?

She had needed a friend, and he might as well have been a Guardian—cold, silent, and unresponsive to her unspoken pleas for help. He should have done more.

> _Now we talk a lot. A lot for me, at least._ ~~ _I think we’re close friends_~~ _She is_ ~~ _my frien_~~ _the Princess, but she insists I drop her title in private. It still feels_ ~~ _odd, like a_~~ _scandalous, even to write it so informally. Like the gossipers will ruin this as well._ ~~ _It makes me miss Kaz_~~ _It’s nice. She’s started confiding in me, and I’m glad. She looks happier. Less burdened, maybe,_ ~~ _though it’s getting worse ag_~~ _. She tells me to tell her to stop at any time if it’s too much, but I’m happy to listen. I’m happy to be trusted by her._
> 
> _She’s offered her own listening ear if I need it. Could I have ever imagined this as a child? Being allowed to rant to the princess about the problems of a knight? Maybe in the future, when_ ~~ _you ar_~~ _I am reading this, I have told her everything. I hope I have. Right now I’m too_ ~~ _scar_~~ ~~_nervo_~~ _worried that I will overburden her._ ~~ _If I live to_~~ _When I am 20, this whole matter should be behind us, so maybe I will leave it unsaid._

Wild felt the hint of a smile pull at his lips. He’d admit to still relating to not wanting to burden her. So they had something in common there. She was strong, he didn’t give her enough credit then or now. He knew she wished for him to tell her more back then. He… should probably be more open about his problems with her now, as well.

He had been reluctant to do so. The image he had of his past self was someone confident and strong, a pillar of support. He had imagined himself as being there for Flora, to take on her burdens and help her. 

> _ I’ve told her some things, at least. Why talking is hard, some things said in whispers. Nothing too heavy, not my true worry, but burdens all the same. It’s easier talking to her than I thought. With her, I feel heard. Like she understands. She lets me go quiet when I need to, and  _ ~~_ I’m so than _ ~~ _ it’s nice. We share the same burden, so she knows when the pressure is too much. The others, I don’t think I could confide in them the same way. It’s different. We have the same war but not the same battle. Perhaps they do understand and I am simply not giving enough credit. Revali’s attitude screams insecurity, the need to prove himself. Maybe one day, when this is over, it will be easier to get along. I would like that, if there is a future for me. _
> 
> _I guess… that’s the problem. I hope we’ll get the chance for it._ ~~ _I don’t_~~ ~~_I_~~ ~~_There m_~~ _I don’t know if I_ ~~ _will live_~~ _will die. Even_ ~~ _if_~~ **_when_** _we win a future for Hyrule, I don’t know if there will be a future for me afterwards. It’s_ ~~ _terrif_~~ ~~_sca_~~ _terrifying. I don’t want to say it, I don’t even want to write it, but I_ ~~ _can’t leav_~~ ~~_there mu_~~ _I have to._
> 
> _ The Great Deku Tree doesn’t have any stories of a time  _ _ after _ _ for me. Not even of the Hero of Time. The palace libraries have never mentioned the heroes’ lives after their adventures. The spirit of the sword hasn’t spoken since I found her as a child.  _ ~~_ I don’ _ ~~
> 
> _ I’m afraid to be afraid. I already feel too much just thinking about it, and when I try to write down the words my hands end up shaking so so much. No matter what I do, who I ask, no one can tell me what happened to all those other heroes. No one will say what will happen to  _ _ me _ .

Wild’s heart dropped. Afraid? No, he had been a rock… He had chosen the life of a knight. He had accepted the risks. Hadn’t he? 

Certainly he didn’t  _ want _ to die, no one ever wanted to die, but he… he was supposed to have been better. He was stronger than Wild, more worthy of the title of Hero! He had failed, but… he wasn’t supposed to be like this! He wasn’t supposed to be afraid! He was writing like a scared child rather than the Hero that would —

Wild laughed humorlessly as he realized what he was thinking. He was no better than the rumor mongers of the past. Expecting him to be a silent, emotionless weapon, ready to do whatever it took. His past self may have been more skilled than he was now, but he was still Hylian. This letter was quite the reminder of that.

> ~~_ I thought I cou _ ~~ _ There was a time  _ ~~_ when I knew I would d _ ~~ _ I  _ _ thought _ _ I had accepted it. Six months ago, I  _ ~~_ kne _ ~~ _ thought for sure. No one had to tell me. Dad and I even talked about it. I wrote letters for little Navi so that she would have something to hold onto. He cried, and I thought he cried enough for both of us, but  _ ~~_ now I can’t help but _ ~~ _ I think I was wrong. I ~~c~~ _ ~~_ an’t he _ ~~ _~~lp~~ I  _ ~~_ have been _ ~~ _ I haven’t been sleeping well, and one of these days one of the others will hear me crying.  _ ~~_ I’m not ready to _ ~~
> 
> _ I don’t know how much longer  _ ~~_ I _ ~~ _ we have until Calamity Ganon strikes. I want to talk with Laba and Kazi again, to try all the Goron recipes Daruk will teach me, to visit Gerudo Town just because I  _ _ can _ _ , not because I have to guard Zelda.  _ _~~I’m sc~~ ~~I~~ _ ~~_ don’ _ ~~ _ There’s so much left I have to do. We are pressed for time. Zelda rushes from holy site to holy site,  _ ~~_ I have no time right now and _ ~~ _ we have no time for detours now. _

There were water stains on the page. Wild could feel his own tears threatening to add to them. He had expected to die. Did he really trust ancient myths to dictate his entire life? Myths that, at best, were incomplete and at worst were exaggerated? He expected his life to end where the story finished… He had written letters to Navi, a ghost of a brother to keep her company where he couldn’t. He hoped she had gotten them, though he selfishly wanted to read them himself. To see what he had wanted to say.

His hopes for the future… small things, selfish things.. To eat good food, travel, reconcile with friends… Laba and Kazi, reduced to only tearstained ink on paper. They must’ve been so important to him, but now his heart ached for people he couldn’t hope to ever place.

Maybe he had sent them letters; he seemed to have a fondness for words written more than spoken. Maybe there would be remnants of that reconciliation, if it had even ever happened.

His finger traced stutteringly over blotchy ink. He hoped it happened. He hoped, he  _ hoped _ .

> _ I wish you could send a letter back to me. Let me know you are there. Did I find a way up to Vah Medoh? Did I ever have that duel against Revali? Did Mipha take my measurements for the reasons I thought she did? Am I still Zelda’s knight? I want to see her be Queen, strong and proud and unburdened by prayer. I hope you can see it. Did I ever apologize to Laba and Kazi? _
> 
> _ I will pray tonight. I just want more time. Surely the Goddess won’t be so cruel  _ ~~_ as to throw away her heroes after we _ ~~ _ maybe She will listen if both Zelda and I pray as hard as we can. There’s nothing else I can do. I only have my duty. Dad says courage is having fear and stepping up anyway.  _ ~~_ I don’t think I c _ ~~ _ He says to have courage  _ ~~_ but he was crying as _ ~~ _ Zelda said there is a fine line between bravery and recklessness. Perhaps these fears are good. They may keep me alive when the confrontation comes. So long as I do not run. _
> 
> _ Link, 17 _

Wild wanted to scoff. Praying didn’t help anything, but what else could he have done? It was easy to criticize him now. It was always easy to criticize the dead. This version of him… he was dead. His hopes and dreams had died with his memories.

“Why am I doing this?” He let the letter fall to his lap. The first few had been fun, exciting, little trips into a past he didn’t know. But these? Did he want to know? Part of him always thought of his past self as a perfect soldier… he huffed out a laugh. Just like Flora had when they first met. He hadn’t been, though. He had been insecure, afraid, and just wanted a normal life. It was… refreshing. Maybe he wasn’t so different from before.

Wild looked into the sky. It was dark, the others would certainly be wondering where he was… but he had told Flora he wouldn’t leave town. If anyone could keep them calm when he vanished, he was sure it was her. He’d go back soon, just… one more. He scanned the remaining piles.

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't seen it, the concept art for Wild's family is really sweet. https://i.redd.it/q2vsnq9qv8n01.jpg  
> No idea how long this fic will be, but I do know how it will end. Hopefully, that means I'll actually finish it! I have a number of ideas for what's in the box, but if you want to add your own I might just include them in the future!


End file.
